Learning from the Great and the Good 19/20 – Gameweek 23

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn”

The relationship this season between FPL and The Great and The Good has been a tumultuous one with many ups and many many downs, yet again this Gameweek tested their patience and left many of them gone with the wind.

The run up to the weekend had seen us with a new-found love for Southampton players with Ings the main object of our desires and a growing confidence in their backline but the real heartbreak was in the last-minute injury news surrounding Rashford and Richarlison.

We came out of the weekend questioning why we had sacrificed our Wolves players, wished we had kept more faith in Pope, contemplating a triple Reds defence and most of us were left wondering what might have been when it came to Aguero.

As a reminder The Great and The Good are a handpicked group of FPL celebrities (?), FF Scouts or Pro Pundits who I will follow to see what we can learn as they navigate their way through the season. They are the Scouts (Mark, Joe, David, Geoff and Neale), FPL “celebrities” (Az, LTFPL Andy, FPL General and Jules Breach) and finally from the Hall of Fame we have Ville Ronka, Matthew Jones and Sean Tobin.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Scarlet arrows for the majority this week but a couple of the Hall of Famers showed their class this week with Sean Tobin and Matthew Jones both getting 60 points plus and in Sean’s case a rise of 168,000 places.

Sean has moved up 379,000 places in the last six weeks, Sunday was the big moving day with Pope, Salah and his double Liverpool defence giving him 35 points in one afternoon. He is already set up for the double and has 2.3m in the bank, will he roll, or will he gamble on a Hammer with upgrades possible to all his cheap enablers?

Matthew Jones had Traore, Grealish and Alexander-Arnold to thank for his green arrow but last week’s investment in Holgate and persistence with Aurier also paid off with a strong defensive performance. He is now at 212,000, his highest rank of the season and all this with only one hit during the campaign – patience pays.

David, Andy and Mark continue to squabble for bottom spot and Mr Munday’s decision to swap out Pope and Mark’s hit to remove Traore and Jimenez for Sterling will give them both nightmares.

Not a great week for captain picks with most going Vardy who achieved the ultimate blank with his penalty miss, Az and Ville Ronka were more adventurous with De Bruyne, Andy gambled on Ings and Mark bet the house and a hit on Sterling – all failed.

TRANSFERS

This is a summary of the transfers for this week :

Andy – Maupay, McCarthy (Rashford, Fabianski)

Az – McCarthy (Fabianski)

David – McCarthy (Pope)

FPL General – Maupay, Ings, Mane (Jimenez, Rashford, Maddison)

Joe – Calvert-Lewin, Ings, Mane (Rashford, Alli, Jimenez)

Jules Breach – Holgate (Aurier)

Geoff – McCarthy, Ings (Fabianski, Abraham)

Mark – Sterling, Ings (Traore, Jimenez)

Matthew Jones – McCarthy (Ramsdale)

Neale – Williams (Tomori)

Sean Tobin – Ings (Rashford)

Ville Ronka – Balbuena (Maguire)

*transfers out are in brackets

A flurry of activity this week with hits being dished out left and right, Mark, FPL General and even Joe (pause for audible gasp) took a minus four to remove Jimenez which resulted in a Mexican slap in the face.

Andy took his eighth hit of the season which is the most amongst The Great and The Good, even more than the master of the minus four Az (pause for another audible gasp). Andy brought in Maupay who at least managed an assist and the popular transfer of McCarthy, in fact ten of the moves were for Saints players with Ings the other big move.

TEMPLATE

The template for The Great and The Good looks like this:

Button (6) McCarthy (5)

Lundstram (12) TAA (11) Kelly (8) Rico (7) Soyuncu (7)

KDB (11) Salah (9) Grealish (8) Mane (6) Martial (5)

Vardy (11) Ings (11) Maupay (4)

*brackets show number of teams they appear in

The template goalkeeping dilemma has been resolved with McCarthy joining the squad due to the recent defensive steel shown by Southampton and some decent fixtures ahead.

Ings is now in all but Jules Breach’s squad and the managers have adopted for a couple of cheap forwards to accompany Vardy with Maupay edging out Rashford due to his injury.

DIFFERENTIALS

As most teams will have a Liverpool triple next week this is probably a good time to look at the differentials amongst The Great and The Good squads to see if they offer any hope for a ranking rise.

Goalkeepers have proved a key differential this week with those keeping faith in Pope being rewarded and Gazzaniga helping to keep Mark’s fortunes afloat.

However, Joe has the best of the differentials with Ben Foster proving a master stroke, at only 4.2% ownership at time of scribbling he has scored more points than De Bruyne in the last six weeks.

Az is the only one to own Digne earning twenty valuable points for him since his purchase in Gameweek 19 and with Newcastle, Watford and Palace in the next three the French defender could give him an edge over the rest of the managers.

David was the one to be sure of Sarr and he looked to be a good move until the injury blow although if he doesn’t recover a straight swop for Doucoure who at 2% ownership and with 31 points in the last four could be gold.

CONCLUSION 

Here we are DGW 24 is upon us with swift decisions to be made with Tuesday’s deadline fast approaching but will the D in DGW stand for disappointing, devastating or dream for The Great and The Good?

Much will depend on what form the triple Liverpool takes with Mark, Joe and FPL General already committing to a double attack but as previously reported Sean Tobin has already doubled down in defence along with other notable Hall of Famers Stephen Harrap, Fabio Borges and Marlen Rattiner.

The others have yet to make their move, will David really go with Firmino and what of West Ham? Ville Ronka has backed Balbuena but no one else has taken the plunge with the reality of the post-double fixtures for the Hammers not exactly appetizing. Let’s see how The Great and The Good respond and if their fortunes improve, “after all, tomorrow is another day”.

Finally, a special mention to Lateriser12 from the Pro Pundits who continues to fly and now sits at 922 OR after his Aguero antics over the last two weeks.

Anyway, that’s all from me for now and remember don’t have nightmares.

For those effected by any of the topics raised in the above article they can find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Greyhead19

Likewise, if you want to keep up with the Tweets of The Great and The Good you can find them here:

https://twitter.com/SkontoRigga
https://twitter.com/matthewpenycae
https://twitter.com/LetsTalk_FPL
https://twitter.com/DavidMunday815
https://twitter.com/ffscout_az
https://twitter.com/FFScout_Joe
https://twitter.com/FPLGeneral
https://twitter.com/julesbreach
https://twitter.com/GeoffreyDance